CHICAGO — Gus Frerotte was feeling more than a little responsible for the Vikings' 48-41 loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday. Despite helping Minnesota put up 41 points, he seemed more focused on his four interceptions.

"I feel bad," he said. "I don't want to say I let my team down because I gave it everything I had out there. But it's hard to come out on the losing end in a game like this."

Frerotte completed 25 of 40 passes for 298 yards and two touchdowns. But there were those four picks.

"Four interceptions. It's tough when you do that," he said. "We still put 41 points on the board. When we watch the film, there are a lot of good things that will come out of it. But for me, this loss is tough. The guys fought really hard on offense. We did a lot of great things. We were in a position where we had to throw the ball downfield, and sometimes things like this happen."

Not that all four interceptions were the result of poor throws. Some were tipped or batted around. Still, that was of little consolation. Frerotte entered the game knowing that there would be passing opportunities. Chicago's secondary is depleted because of injuries.

"With their starting corners and nickel down, we thought we could throw the ball downfield a little bit," he said. "We had the run and the pass going all day, and we were mixing them up pretty well. When it came down to it in the end, we didn't get it done."

The game virtually ended when Frerotte, under heavy pressure and on the run, was intercepted by Zack Bowman at the Minnesota 41-yard line.

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On the play before the interception, Frerotte was hammered and sacked by Tommie Harris. The Bears really came after Frerotte at the end.

"I thought offensively we did some good things," Childress said. "We moved the ball. We had three scores in the red zone."

Frerotte, 3-2 as the Vikings' starter, now welcomes the bye week.

"We've had a long stretch," he said. "We had two Monday night football games, and we've had some pretty physical games in the first half of the season. This is a welcome bye for a lot of guys to get some rest and recharge the batteries."